János Cserép's WeblogBlog for csjhttps://blogs.oracle.com/csj/feed/entries/atom2013-04-20T19:00:58+00:00Apache Rollerhttps://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/farewellFarewellcsj 2006-05-28T13:15:02+00:002006-05-28T20:15:02+00:00<p>After 6 years the time has come for me to say goodbye to Sun. It was not an easy decision to make, but I think my skills and knowledge will be utilized much better this way. I'm starting my own company called MetaPrime and will be doing consultation around Java/J2EE projects. Also I've started a (EJB3, <a href="http://wicket.sourceforge.net">Wicket</a> and <a href="http://glassfish.dev.java.net">Glassfish</a> based) community (let's hope 2.0) portal for my home town (Esztergom) called <a href="http://www.szeretgom.hu">www.szeretgom.hu</a> (it's an anagram of the city's name and also "szeret" means "love" in Hungarian). I'll probably have blog up and running there in a week or two (http://www.szeretgom.hu/blog is the url candidate).
<p>
So, that's it. See you later...
<p>
Janos https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/the_danube_is_comingThe Danube is comingcsj 2006-04-03T03:26:46+00:002006-04-03T13:48:54+00:00<p>Spring came a bit late this year and it brought a huge flood on all major and minor rivers of Hungary. Both the Danube and Tisza rivers are flooded, several hundred people were evacuated from their homes. There are some cities that are completely cut off and cannot be approaced by road. Some underground stations in Budapest also experience minor water leakage, some rail services were shut down.
</p>
<p>I've taken some pictures yesterday in Esztergom, but the Danube is expected to rise another 30-40 cm. If it does, this will be the highest flood ever recorded in the last 150 years:
<p>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cserepj/">
<img src="http://static.flickr.com/42/121993281_dfb4412923_m.jpg" />
<br />
<img src="http://static.flickr.com/39/121989610_5ed5158f47_m.jpg" />
<br />
<img src="http://static.flickr.com/37/121993283_f105a7cbb8_m.jpg" />
</a>
</p>
<p>More photos from the Fire Department's archive:
<ul><a href="http://langlovagok.hu/kepek2006/viczenagyula/060402_esztergomarviz.shtml">
Esztergom's island and surroundings under water</a>
<br/>
<a href="http://langlovagok.hu/kepek2006/pasztoizsolt/060402_margitszigetarviz.shtml">Budapest's Margit island</a>
<br/>
<a href="http://langlovagok.hu/kepek2006/guczi/060402_rakpartarviz.shtml">The quay-side road under water in Budapest</a>
</ul>https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/friday_evening_at_lastFriday evening at lastcsj 2006-03-17T13:16:19+00:002006-03-17T21:34:47+00:00<p>Despite the fact that we only had four workdays it has been quite a busy week. My girlfriend's 5 year old brother was in hospital because of an orthopaedic surgery on his ankle. He almost died after birth due to his blood-sugar level being zero and nobody noticing it until it was almost too late. He survived but due to a minor brain damage he cannot use his left side as efficiently as his right. His leg was operated on Monday to allow him to move more freely but he will remain in bed for a month because his leg is in cast. At least they are at home now - he spent too much of his first two years in hospitals to like them.
<p>StarOffice 8 PP2 Hungarian version master cds have arrived on Tuesday: the retail boxes are in manufacturing. I have high hopes for this project - I was sending out emails requesting this localization for so long and to so many management folks I cannot really count them all.
<p>On Wednesday we had a national holiday. In 1848 Petőfi and his young, enthusiastic fellows decided to rebel against the Habsburgs on this very day (15th of March).
<p>On Thursday I slowly and quietly turned 27. It doesn't feel different. Yet.
<p>Oh, and I'm off to Prague on Sunday. I'm attending a technical course on <strike>SeeBeyond</strike> Sun Java System Integration Suite. It will be a 5 hours drive, so I'm preparing a number of CDs to listen to (although the highway between Brno and Prague is not CD player friendly at all...
https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/politics_in_generalPolitics in generalcsj 2006-03-03T13:59:47+00:002006-03-03T22:05:00+00:00<p>My week long absence from Hungary resulted in me completely forgetting about the political climate the coming April elections brought upon us. Now that I'm back it's getting more and more awkward each day. The only good news: our political powers have finally started using the Internet for their goals: for example prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány started his own <a href="http://blog.amoba.hu">blog</a> updated daily and also allowing people to leave comments.
<p>The black side of using the internet for political goals: a few weeks ago the right wing party (Fidesz) was accused of breaking into an internet facing system of the left wing party, MSZP illegally downloading campaign materials from the server. Evidence from the server logs showed they actually did brake in. Three young supporters of Fidesz were held accountable for the act.
<p>Also news report that the Szeklers of Transylvania decided they've had enough of their leaders' talk and they are to come together on the 15th of March (national holiday in Hungary remembering the revolution of 1848-1849) at Székelyudvarhely to declare an Autonomy of Szeklers inside Romania. Considering the fact that no territorial autonomy was ever given peacefully to minorities in Europe (not even for the Germans living in South Tirol in Italy) I fear the worst to come.
<p>And last but not least H5N1 is here in the neighborhood. I drive every day to Budapest through an area where authorities have already found a dead bird carrying the virus.
<p>2006 is an interesting year... https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/a_week_in_londonA week in Londoncsj 2006-03-03T04:42:36+00:002006-03-03T21:38:31+00:00<p>We went on a short trip with my girlfriend last week to London. It was fun although we've walked so much I could barely stand on my feet at the evenings. Four full days were enough only for Madame Tussaud's, London Eye, National Gallery, Oxford street, the Tower and the change of guards at the Buckingham palace - so I think we'll have to go back another time to visit more of the sights...
</p>
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/londoneye.JPG" />
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/londoneye2.jpg" />
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/tower.jpg" />https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/2006_here_i_come2006, here I comecsj 2006-01-02T13:25:10+00:002006-01-02T21:25:10+00:00<p>Highest point of 2005: getting my Mensa test results</p>
<p>Lowest point of 2005: a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cserepj/62141287/" title="Photo Sharing">car accident</a> a day before we travelled to Prague. It could have ended much much worse if I had slower reflexes:
</p>
<p>I haven't blogged for a while (as <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/ThinGuy">Craig</a> reminded me in an email) for a number of reasons but if all goes according to my plans I'll have a hell of a time in 2006 with a lot of events to write about... Some of these in no particular order:
<ul>
<p><li> I'll probably get married.</li></p>
<p><li> We're going to build (or at least start constructing) a house. The site (5 thousand square meters) currently looks like <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cserepj/64193330/">this</a>. I do intend to keep the grapes for a while (perhaps even start my own vineyard in the long run). <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cserepj/64193332/">This</a> and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cserepj/64193331/">this</a> are views from the top of the property, south and west respectively.</li></p>
<p><li> A few Sun Ray deals are in the queue so after a year of doing mainly pre-sales work in this subject I hope to get my hands dirty with real stuff.</li></p>
</ul>
https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/fairies_and_wizardsFairies and wizardscsj 2005-10-17T08:50:36+00:002005-10-17T16:31:09+00:00<p>The Hungarian localization of OpenOffice.org started in 2002 when a <a href="http://office.fsf.hu/csapat.html">community</a> of people translated most the GUI during a 3 day marathon. The enthusiasm and creativity of the individuals resulted in a number of interesting translations that were more of an interpretation and cultural adaptation of a given function rather than a simple translation.
<p>The most significant change in my opinion was the appearance of Fairies instead of Wizards. In Hungarian tales and myths I cannot recall any appearance of a helpful wizard while fairies with good intentions are definitely there to guide you. They come when you need them and help you achieve your goals. So translating and modifying "Wizard" (varázsló) to "Fairy" (tündér) seems like a more logical choice given the cultural context.
<p>When we've started translating StarOffice 8 to Hungarian we've decided to go with the terminology of OpenOffice.org. Although Microsoft Office comes with a number of "varázsló" items I hope people will find it more intuitive to ask for helpful fairies to guide their hands instead of waiting for the mercy of powerful wizards...
https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/mother_natureMother naturecsj 2005-09-11T09:15:15+00:002005-09-11T16:27:41+00:00<p>A pretty big storm hit the town which caused a flood on the main street. This usually happens two or three times every year.
</p>
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/esoutan.jpg">
<p>At least the rainbow was nice<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/images/smileys/smile.gif" class="smiley" alt=":)" title=":)" />
</p>
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/szivarvany.jpg">
https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/looking_at_the_pastLooking at the pastcsj 2005-09-03T04:32:30+00:002005-09-03T11:58:01+00:00<p>The <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/csj?entry=noisy_mornings">noisy mornings</a> I've written about a few weeks ago are gone:
<p>
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/exmozi.jpg" />
<p>Looks like I was right to think they will eventually find remains of the past in the ground. There is definitely something that looks like an old wall on the front-right side of the picture. I haven't seen anybody on the site for a few weeks - they must be waiting for the archeologists to become available. There is another construction site being checked right now some 25-30 meters south from this one, so I don't how long it will take.
<p>
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/asatas.jpg" />
<p>This is the main square of the town that is going to be under reconstruction for the following year or so. The work was started but halted immediately because the remains of the old St Lawrence Church were found. This church was built at the end of 12th century then rebuilt in gothic style in the 14th century. As usual it was destroyed during the Ottoman occupation of the town in the 17th century.
<p>
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/csonti.JPG" />
<p>The archelogists have unveiled a cemetary with a few human remains. Some were still laying around in the ground when I took these pictures...
<p>
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/plakat.jpg" />
<p>There is a plan to have the remains of the church become part of the new main square. The hand drawn picture is trying to give the impression how it would look like. I've always known that the buried remains of the historical town are under our feet. Still it's an interesting moment to actually experience them when some parts become uncovered.https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/spielberg_on_the_streets_ofSpielberg on the streets of Budapestcsj 2005-08-29T14:52:34+00:002005-08-29T21:59:42+00:00<p><a href="http://www.pestiside.hu/archives/the_pictures_steven_spielberg_doesnt_want_you_to_see001396.php">This</a> is so funny. The local press was following this guy but couldn't get near him. Hungarians are not used to such rude behaviour from visiting guests, even if they are paying a huge sum to use the streets of Budapest to shoot a movie scene...
<p>A few years ago Robert Redford and Brad Pitt was shooting some spy movie where Budapest played the role of Berlin. Even more years ago Budapest played the role of Buenos Aires in Evita. Now it's Munich's (or some Italian town's?) turn...
<p>It's really weird...https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/back_from_vacationBack from vacationcsj 2005-08-23T07:41:30+00:002005-08-23T15:09:30+00:00<p>After a two-week long vacation (which involved rain, showers, floods and more rain) I'm finally back in the office trying to catch up with work. Actually things were going smoothly without me: the StarOffice 8 localization project to Hungarian (which I'm coordinating a bit) is on schedule, the RFQ I was helping with was submitted.
<p>Even now I'm using a custom StarOffice 8 build and even some sales guys have installed it on their notebooks to be able to show it off on customer visits. I can't wait to have the final bits: StarOffice 8 feels like something that is destined to be sold in large volumes. We're working on having a boxed version manufactured locally with some of the translated documentation (Programmer's Guide, User's Guide) in hardcopy: the boxed SuSE kits with hardcopy documentation have always been well received by this market. As we're mostly targeting small and medium businesses with this version I think it will be essential... I hope OpenOffice.org users will also appreciate the work we are doing as all localized content will be incorporated in the final OpenOffice.org 2.0 <a href="http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=52906">build</a>
<p>Before I forget... <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/christophersaul">Chris</a> is going to sit in the Budapest office for a few days). He's visiting the sales guys to position some new desktop stuff (like Tarantella) in their sales kit. We've talked in June about his visit in August and I told him it is usually a quite sunny and hot period in Hungary, so he also brought his wife to have some time off... Hope they don't blame me for the bad weather<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/images/smileys/smile.gif" class="smiley" alt=":)" title=":)" />
<p>BTW, after 5 years being with Sun as a contractor, looks like I finally get a chance to become a "real" Sun employee... Actually I've never really understood this contractor thing, but I'll be glad to receive a yellow badge afterall.</p>https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/hello_touristHello Touristcsj 2005-08-01T12:09:48+00:002005-08-01T23:08:22+00:00<p>Today's most interesting Google search leading to my blog was <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=things+to+do+esztergom&hl=en&lr=&start=10&sa=N">this (things+to+do+esztergom)</a>. Somebody from the UK is planning to visit the town I live at? Wow. As Google's ranking system rates my blog as the 11th most authorative web page in this subject, I've decided to actually write up a few things to help those in dire need of information. I know the frustration when you follow a link with the expectation to find some tourist info only to find the blog of a geek full of IT stuff... <img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/images/smileys/smile.gif" class="smiley" alt=":)" title=":)" />
</p>
<p>So, Esztergom had quite a history, still you will not see much of it walking on the streets these days. The old medieval town was destroyed in 1241-42 by the invading Mongols. The rebuilt town was then destroyed during the numerous sieges Esztergom had during the Ottoman wars (1543: Suleyman, 1595: Christians, 1605: Ottomans, 1683: Christian forces led by Polish king Jan Sobieski). What remains of this history can mostly be found in the numerous museums and exhibitions.
<p>Cultural places to visit:
<ul>
<li>The town is best known for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esztergom_Basilica">Basilica of Esztergom</a> (<a href="http://www.panoramas.hu/bazilika/">virtual tour here</a>). The Basilica was constructed on the site of the ruined Szent Adalbert Church of the 11th century on the Castle Hill (as shown on the picture on the top of the blog) during the XIX. century. This is the most frequently visited sight of the town: if you have only one afternoon to spend, spend it here. You can climb a whole lot of stairs to enjoy the view from the top of the Basilica (if the air is clear the sight is truely exceptional). You can also visit the crypts beneath the cathedral: many former cardinals and archbishops are buried here. Also don't miss the Cathedral Treasury<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/images/smileys/smile.gif" class="smiley" alt=":)" title=":)" />
<li>Next to the Cathedral you can find the Castle which is a museum with different exhibitions showing the history of Esztergom. The museum also has an art exhibition in one of the rondellas (a round bastion) which changes from time to time. Currently you can visit an exhibition of <b>Salvador Dali</b>'s arts: some of his lesser known paintings (parts of a private collection from Bamberg).
<li>A steep stairway leads down from the Castle Hill to the Watertown part of the town: where you'll find the Archbishop's palace and the <a href="http://www.christianmuseum.hu/page.php?id=11">Christian Museum</a>. Not far you can find the Balassa Museum named after a 16th century poet who died during the second siege of Esztergom.
<li>Have a walk to the center of the city to find the <a href="http://www.museum.hu/search/museum_en.asp?ID=473">Danube museum</a> if you're interested in more technical things: the exhibition is primarily about the water management systems of Hungary. There are a lot of working miniatures which kids enjoy a lot. There are also seasonal exhibitions of modern arts.
<li>There is an international <a href="http://www.guitarfestival.hu/prog_eng/prog_en.html">Guitar festival</a> every year (this year: Aug 6-12). The classical concerts are performed in the Basilica.
</ul>
<p>Places to have some time off:
<ul>
<li>Visit Párkány, the town on the other side of the Danube. It's much easier to cross the border since the Marie-Valerie build was rebuilt in 2001 - 57 years after it was demolished by the retreating German forces. The town is called Sturovo in Slovak, but as the majority of the inhabitants are Hungarians, you will not feel much of a difference. Párkány has a decent thermal bath called <a href="http://www.slovanet.sk/vadas/index_en.htm">Vadas</a> and there are fine Czech and Slovak beers in the numerous pubs.
<li>Also a new spa is being built on the island of Esztergom but it is not yet functional.
</ul>
<p>Esztergom from many angles: <a href="http://sightseeing.bejo.hu/index.php?f=search&country=Hungary&city=Esztergom">sightseeing.bejo.hu</a>https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/noisy_morningsNoisy morningscsj 2005-07-14T03:37:31+00:002005-07-18T20:20:25+00:00<p>The old cinema on the other side of the road I'm living at is being cleared away in a big hurry...
</p>
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/mozi1.jpg" alt="Yesterday evening">
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/mozi2.jpg" alt="Today morning">
https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/dubrovnikDubrovnikcsj 2005-07-13T05:11:13+00:002005-07-13T12:18:20+00:00<p>
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/dubr1.jpg" />
</p><p>
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/dubr2.jpg" />
</p><p>
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/dubr3.jpg" />
</p><p>
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/dubr4.jpg" />
</p><p>
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/dubr5.jpg" />
</p>https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/what_to_do_at_theWhat to do at the evening...csj 2005-06-08T04:10:15+00:002005-06-08T12:04:54+00:00<p>Recently I've became a loyal customer of <a href="http://www.bookline.hu">bookline.hu</a> - an online shop that aggregates the offerings of various Hungarian second hand book stores. My last order arrived yesterday and after getting home I've decided to skip the "sit down in front of the home PC" part of my evening agenda and read one of the new books instead. I happened to chose High Crusade from Poul Anderson - a quite entertaining sci-fi short novel. It tells the story of an English baron who's army is just about to go to war against France in the Middle Ages when suddenly a spaceship lands near them. The Englishmen do not panic, they slaughter the aliens and take control of the spaceship thanks to the fact that the alien's weapons are useless in close combat. The treason of a captured alien makes them travel a few lightyears away to another planet and the story eventually evolves into a crusade against the aliens...
<p>
The book was quite short: less then two hundred pages so I arrived at the last page not long after 11pm. Still it was as entertaining read. If you think between the lines there is some harsh society criticism (aliens enslaving weaker species to keep their own life standard high, but depend too much on technology to keep the control).
<p>Anyway, I haven't set aside much time recently to read books, although I keep buying them at the same rate (2-3 new releases every month and varying number of second hand books)... https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/openttd_package_for_solaris_10OpenTTD package for Solaris 10 x86csj 2005-05-31T10:12:06+00:002005-05-31T17:23:12+00:00<p>If you're looking for a way to kill some time and only have Solaris 10 x86 installed on your laptop/PC, here's your chance to give a try to the excellent <a href="http://www.openttd.com">Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe</a> - an open source remake of the original TTD game. The Solaris 10 x86 package - created by Zwei, the owner of a portal called sunfreeware.hu - can be downloaded from <a href="http://www.sunfreeware.hu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=17&Itemid=43">here</a>.
<p>Note: the package installs into /opt/sfw/openttd and needs the SFWsdl package from the Companion CD installed.
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/openttd.png" />
https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/castle_of_estergonCastle of Estergon?csj 2005-05-31T09:06:23+00:002005-05-31T23:15:12+00:00<p>A Hungarian news portal reports that the castle of Esztergom (pictured on the top of the page) was rebuilt in Ankara, Turkey's capitol:
<img src="http://index.hu/cikkepek/0505/bulvar/estergon.jpg" />
<p>I really don't know what to say. Occupation of Hungary is probably a glorious moment of history for Turkey. Esztergom was a very significant town of medieval Hungary (capitol until the 13th century then seat of the archbishop). Suleyman occupied the castle in 1543, then it was retaken in 1595 by joint Hungarian/Austrian/German forces. In 1605 Turks occupied it for a second time. The last siege in 1683 led by Polish/Bavarian/Austrian forces completely destroyed every house of the town and left the county in ruins. In the 15th century the area had one of the highest population density in Hungary. By the end of the 17th century most of the families were either killed, taken as prisones or escaped the horrors of war and dual taxation to more fortunate places. After the last siege the town never reached it's former significance - although the archbishop seat moved back and the Church even erected a new cathedral on the Castle Hill. People slowly moved in from other parts of the country. Many German, Slovak, Croat, Serb families came which is still reflected in many family names (although the people themselves rarely speak their ancestor's language).</p>
<p>Last December I was walking the streets of Grenoble, amazed by the old buildings. Then I suddenly realized that my home town could have such old buildings if the Kingdom of Hungary had better diplomacy towards Turkey. I'm fond of science fiction stories, especially alternative histories... So, what if Hungary allowed Turkish forces to pass through the country unharmed in the 16th century, or even allied itself with Turkey instead of going to war with an Empire 10 times larger in both size and manpower? I guess Suleyman would have occupied Vienna and Prague instead of Buda. Habsburgs would flee to Spain. The German territories would unite against the common threat (remember this is the time of Martin Luther, so even reformation could lose it's reach if suddenly a pagan invador was there to threaten Europe). Alternatively Suleyman could have turned towards Italy, captured/allie with Venice, and besieged and took Rome... of course this means Michelangelo's and other master's works would probably be destroyed (remember, islam doesn't allow humans to be displayed in arts).
<p>Could these events have happened if Hungary decided not to fight the Turkish invasion? Who knows... Too bad <a href="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Poul_Anderson.htm">Poul Anderson</a> is no longer with us to tell the story... https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/unfortunate_incidentsUnfortunate incidentscsj 2005-05-27T12:56:21+00:002005-05-31T23:15:44+00:00<p>One would think that with Romania signed to join the European Union, unfortunate and evil events that happened in the <a href="http://hungaria.org/send.php?articleid=1008">past</a> cannot happen again. Today's news <a href="http://www.sepsiszentgyorgy.ro/index.php?k=0&ak=1&article_id=14066">report</a> otherwise. Early this week a number of 15-17 year old boys were beaten up by a gang of Romanian men because they were speaking Hungarian in public in the streets of Sepsiszentgyörgy. The majority of the city (about 75%) is of Hungarians nationality (I've blogged about visiting there <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/csj/20040727">last year</a>). Now authorities are trying to convince Szekler and Hungarian youngster not to retaliate...
</p>
<p>I just hope this is not another sign of a new wave of rascist events targeting the 2-2,5 million Hungarians living outside Hungary in the southern parts of the Carpathian basin. It was shocking enough to see the pictures from <a href="http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=385">Serbia</a> during the last few months.
<img src="http://blog.tomcatpolo.hu/blog/blog/20040926_1.jpg" />
<p>"Die Hungarians" - a sign from Vojvodina on a house owned by Hungarians...
https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/i18n_is_still_hardI18N is still hardcsj 2005-05-23T13:06:02+00:002005-05-23T20:20:47+00:00<p><a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/i18ngal/20050523#myth_14_ceos_something_you">Andrea Vine</a> finishes her I18N myths series with a direct message to CEOs. Very good points, indeed.</p>
<p>I wonder if anyone within Sun ever asked how Microsoft is doing the things she mentions? As far as I know their software portfolio has the most number of supported localizations available on the planet.<p>
<p>My assumption is that they just didn't care so much about the processes around the translation. They must had a better understanding how localization of end user software is essential to sell it (and of course they weren't so afraid of the risks involved). I would really like to find out how they were doing localizations in the early Windows/Office days (Windows has a Hungarian version since 3.1). Unfortunately I was just starting secondary school those days...
</p>
<p>A story: in the days of some early Microsoft Office version (2.0 pr 6.0? I don't remember) macros written in the Hungarian and English Excel versions were not compatible. The reason? The translators (whether by mistake or by design) translated all the function keywords (SUM, AVG) to their Hungarian representation, thus making all spreadsheets created in the localized version work only in the localized version... Did other languages experience this behaviour or was it Hungarian-specific only?</p>
https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/having_some_beers_with_someHaving some beers with some Sun partnerscsj 2005-05-19T14:37:06+00:002005-05-19T23:41:29+00:00<p><a href="http://sun.avnet.hu/">Avnet</a> - the Channel Distributor Partner of Sun Hungary has a very good habit. Every month they organize an informal evening for their partners. They invite people to have some beer and to talk about IT, vendors, market, past and the future... Actually the more beer gets consumed the more interesting the stories get, so it's a really good way to spend an evening socializing with people.
<img src="http://www.wiera.hu/pics/gellert_sorozo.jpg" />
</p>
<p>Tonight at this partner evening I met with a guy I've been chatting with on various technical forums for months. He has been experimenting with SAP in Solaris Zones since an early Solaris Express build with various success, and I've even tried to get him into the OpenSolaris pilot without much success. Too bad. He's got firm technical skills and keeps an AS/400 in his bedroom... Or is it the study? Actually he's quite interested in old computers of any kind and also knows about the old Sun 490 that is still kept at the Schönherz Dormitory (more about this one later).</p>
<p>The only downside of the evening was the fact that <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/csj/20050325#random_thoughts">I'm living in Esztergom</a> now - about 50 km from Budapest. Although the traffic is very light at 22:00, it still takes 40 minutes to get home. And of course I only allowed myself to enjoy one bottle of <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/anovak/20050519#weizenbier">weisbier</a> early in the evening (Ales, in Hungary there are at least 4-5 different brands of weisbier available on the shelves - mostly German and Austrian bottles... although my favourite is still Edelweis).
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/edelweis.jpg" />
<p>Now onto the story of the Sun 490 server of the Schönherz Dormitory. Schönherz is the hilarious, blue building situated in the 11th District of Budapest, near the R&D department of Ericsson and in front of the also quite hilarious although quite functional building of MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Company. The dormitory has quite a reputation in Hungary's IT sector. Until the 1980s the dormitory was in a beautiful building in the old Castle District, right next to the Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion and a nice horseman statue (if only I could tell you more about that horse and it's shiny private parts, but what if someone under 18 (or 21 in .us) read this site? Let's just say that no tourist guide fails to mention the story how university students keep one particular part of the statue clean and shiny).
<img src="http://www.sch.bme.hu/images/sch.jpg" />
<p>Since the 1960s the dormitory was exclusively used by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (which later became the Faculty of EE and IT). It's no wonder that many of Hungary's current CIOs, IT managers were once living in the rooms of this building. As for me I've spent five years in room 811, 1202, and 1201 and the first Sun equipment I've seen and used was also in this building. Ever since graduation I've tried to make sure there was Sun presence in the dormitory.
</p>
<p>In 2002 we were celebrating the 20th birthday of Sun and the 10th birthday of the Hungarian Sun office. We've held a party at the Budaörs Airport where Sun partners, customers and even their families were invited. There were great programs for kids and everything you would expect at an outdoor event. At one point the Country Manager announced that we are looking for the oldest Sun server that is still operational and resides in Hungary and if we find it we will exchange it for a brand new one. Three guys were invited from the dormitory. They've raised their heads, looked at each other, and started to make some phone calls. A few minutes later they were telling me they are pretty sure the oldest functional Sun server was in the Dormitory. It's name was "nagytata" - meaning grandpa.
<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/mig.jpg" alt="A MIG 21 fighter exhibited at Budaörs Airport">
</p>
<p>Sun servers and workstations were all on the COCOM list so until 1989 there was no legal way to get them into the country. There are rumors that eventually some people managed to smuggle in Sun workstations in the 80s, but I don't know much about the truth behind these talks (and I've personally seen Commodore 64s used for word processing and accounting at the company my parent's worked at in 1987. They've also played games on it<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/images/smileys/smile.gif" class="smiley" alt=":)" title=":)" />. One thing is sure: the Sun 490 - nagytata - was granted to the dorm by Ericsson and it was definitely sold before the Hungarian Sun office opened in 1992.
</p>
<p>Almost a year passed and nobody else came to collect the bounty. Eventually Sun Hungary kept it's word and gave the dormitory a <a href="http://kszk.sch.bme.hu/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=NewBalu280">new Sun Fire 280R with a D2000 storage</a> (remember this was early 2003) and also granted them the use of the Sun ONE software stack. Basically we didn't want to do a HW grant and leave them, we've wanted to organize a Sun ONE Competency Center at the university and base it on this small circle of people. The idea was pretty successful, they've <a href="http://sunone.sch.bme.hu">migrated</a> their previous NIS+, sendmail environment to Sun Directory and Messaging server, then formed a <a href="http://www.inbuss.hu">company</a> and are trying to make a living selling Sun technology ever since.
</p>
<p>Meanwhile the Sun 490 remained in the Dormitory - the guys moved it up from the basement on a ladder (the gallery is pretty amazing, check it out <a href="http://kszk.sch.bme.hu/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=NagyTataUp&page=1">here</a>). A picture is worth a thousand words:
<img src="http://kszk.sch.bme.hu/gallery/albums/NagyTataUp/100_0745.sized.jpg" />
</p>
<p>After the lift they've tried to get it up and running. Guess what, it worked. Nobody remembered the root password though. Check out gallery <a href="http://kszk.sch.bme.hu/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=NagyTataBoot&page=1">here</a>.
<img src="http://kszk.sch.bme.hu/gallery/albums/NagyTataBoot/dscf0029.sized.jpg" />
<p>
So this is the story of nagytata and the new balu. The main unix server of the dormitory is still a Sun server and it even uses Sun software to keep students living there aware of the existence of a company called Sun.
<p>The 490 is still in the dormitory though. I would very much like to see it exhibited in a museum as the oldest Sun server of Hungary one day.
</p>
<p>By the way, if you read my blog you may remember <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/csj/20050323#looking_for_university_students">this entry</a>. Among some others we're giving a chance to this student to work part time in our office:
<img src="http://kszk.sch.bme.hu/gallery/albums/album10/img_0963.sized.jpg"/>
In case you would not recognize it, she's sitting on an AS400. Appearantly it is the same AS400 that now resides at the SAP/Solaris Zone guy's room (life can sometimes be like a Douglas Adams book).
<p>It turns out she also fits on a Sun server: <img src="http://kszk.sch.bme.hu/gallery/albums/album10/img_0956.sized.jpg"/>https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/i18n_is_hardI18N is hardcsj 2005-05-05T05:27:47+00:002005-05-10T11:37:19+00:00<p>hu.sun.com, the Hungarian Sun site has been updated with the new Sun branding. Unfortunately the Arial fonts that were used during the image creation are missing some characters. The result is very ugly - the image ha a "CE" character displayed instead of ő and ű. I hope it will be fixed soon:</p>
<img src="http://hu.sun.com/images/b1/b1_nc_05q2_d.jpg" />
<p>2005-05-10: UPDATE: FINALLY<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/images/smileys/smile.gif" class="smiley" alt=":)" title=":)" /> ő is ő<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/images/smileys/smile.gif" class="smiley" alt=":)" title=":)" />https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/mire_j%C3%B3_egy_%C3%B6regecske_sunMire jó egy öregecske Sun gépcsj 2005-05-05T01:15:45+00:002005-05-05T08:29:37+00:00<p>Hová kerülnek a kiöregedő Sun demó gépek? Pl ilyen projektekre:
<a href="http://simonyi.sch.bme.hu/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core:ShowItem&g2_itemId=27&g2_imageViewsIndex=1">
<img src="http://simonyi.sch.bme.hu/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core:DownloadItem&g2_itemId=29&g2_serialNumber=2"/>
</a>
<p>Az említett J2EE fejlesztés a http://vir.sch.bme.hu funkcionalitásának újraimplementálását jelenti, Java Server Faces/Portlet és EJB technológiával és valójában egy önálló labor - később talán diplomamunka - aminek keretében külső konzulensként működöm.
<p><i>Gondolom páran furcsállják, hogy miért hívok egy 2 x Intel Xeon 3 Ghz CPU-s gépet öregnek. Nos azért, mert a Sun már nem árul ilyet: az Opteron alapú szerverek mind árban, mind teljesítményben jobbak a korábbi V60x/V65x kiszolgálóknál...</i>https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/free_online_gamesFree online games...csj 2005-04-05T02:07:54+00:002005-04-05T09:20:57+00:00<p>Just read an <a href="http://it.news.hu/rios3_content.php?mod=20&id=605">interview</a> (sorry, in Hungarian) at a local news site with the developers of the <a href="http://www.flyordie.com">FlyOrDie</a> game portal. The company just got a "Seal of Excellence" award at this year's Cebit fair for their online offerings. Taking a short look at the website reveals two things:
<ul><li>They are creating their games mostly in Java.</li>
<li>The gaming site is localized into 44 languages!!! (all EU languages and many other: their latest addition was Zulu).
</ul>
</p>
<p>All I can say is: wow... <img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/images/smileys/smile.gif" class="smiley" alt=":)" title=":)" /></p>
https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/an_afternoon_at_the_universityAn afternoon at the universitycsj 2005-03-31T10:25:00+00:002005-03-31T19:02:20+00:00<p>We took a Sun Ray demo to the <a href="http://www.bme.hu">university</a> this afternoon to show it to 3rd year students choosing their major courses. I guess this would qualify as a "marketing" event as we're going to set up a Sun Ray/Java lab at the department and they are starting a new J2EE course next year with labs running on Java Enterprise System and Java Studio Enterprise. Over a hundred students could enroll to this class each year. I hope it will be at least as popular as the department's C#/.NET course <img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/images/smileys/smile.gif" class="smiley" alt=":)" title=":)" />.
</p>
<p>The worst moment was when I realized I was talking about marketing highlights of the Sun Ray architecture to a student. I quickly changed the subject to "how it works" from "why it is good for your company". I hope he didn't notice. Spending too much time in a sales organization is certainly bad for your health...
</p>
<p>
The best moment was meeting a <a href="http://arkana.lanten.hu">few</a> <a href="http://semper.ttt.bme.hu/">friends</a> I haven't seen for some time...
</p>https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/adapting_the_ultra_thin_clientAdapting the ultra thin client technology to mobile handheldscsj 2005-03-26T05:17:16+00:002005-03-26T13:52:26+00:00<p>Maybe this idea is something I should patent before sharing with the world, but I always liked better the academic way of doing things. If someone was to sponsor me a PhD work, I would really like to work on turning the concept into reality<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/images/smileys/smile.gif" class="smiley" alt=":)" title=":)" /></p>
<p>So, basically the idea is this: give a person a mobile device that is only able to
<ul>
<li>communicate with a central server via the network
<li>draw pixels on it's screen</li>
<li>capture an image via it's built in camera and proxy it until it is sent over the network</li>
<li>play audio received from the network</li>
<li>record audio to be sent over the network (proxy it until it is sent over the network)</li>
<li>have a standard way to add extra devices (connection to printer, bluetooth capability, etc)</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>It wouldn't store phone books, images, Java games, etc. It wouldn't run any applications (browser, recorder, etc). It would be a dumb, easily replacable, cheap manufacturable device assembled from COTS, low power chips with a firmware that is:
<ul>
<li>digitally signed and can be replaced only with code signed by the right signature</li>
<li>could be replaced over the network anytime without human intervention</li>
<li>network aware, could find it's server on any network (wi-fi, 3G, whatever)</li>
<li>is very much like the current firmware of Sun Ray ultra thin clients</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>You would store and run everything on the server side: have Gigaherz CMT processors run the user interface for hundreds of users per server. Deploying a new service for the "mobiles" would happen on the server. Think of a service like "speech recognition integrated into a modified StarOffice suite" that runs on the server but still can send the output of the document to the printer you're standing next to. Another service could be "find me a picture of an owl that costs less than 10 cents for me to use in this presentation".
</p>
<p>Mobile devices have much smaller screen size and resolution so bandwidth could easily allow even real time 3D or video images (Looking Glass?) and we would no longer be limited by the power and cpu characteristics of mobile devices: as everything is running on the server, you can easily create very rich user interfaces with speech recognition and text to speech technologies integrated - as long as the bandwidth is there. </p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/random_thoughtsRandom thoughtscsj 2005-03-25T03:07:34+00:002005-03-25T12:13:37+00:00<p><img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/egomcam.jpg" align="left" />The <a href="http://www.sztistvan-egom.hu">secondary school</a> I've attended a decade ago has finally entered the 21th century with a redesigned dynamic web page (php based, but quite functional). The old static site lacked updates for years, but this one finally seems to have a decent editor system. It's really nice to see what's going on nowadays at the old "alma mater" <img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/images/smileys/smile.gif" class="smiley" alt=":)" title=":)" />. The editors have put out a link to my blog and kindly asked me to say a word or two about the fact that I've spent 4 years of my life in that 300 year old building. Here I am doing that...</p>
<p>This rather low quality web-cam capture on the left (taken from the web site) is showing the castle of Esztergom and the cathedral - which is Hungary's largest and Europe's 3rd largest catholic church building (the Esztergom Mass by Franz Liszt was composed for the sanctification of the cathedral in the 19th century).
</p>
<p>I'm moving back to Esztergom in April. I'm a bit fed up with Budapest but the main reason is that I'm planning to start building a house next year either in Esztergom or in one of the nearby villages. Bad news is I'll be driving about 50 km each day to work on a 2x1 lane road (see map)... </p>
<p>I'm an external consultant for a student's thesis at the <a href="http://www.bme.hu">university</a> and we're starting to lay down the specification of his work for the following year. The funny thing is that his department is teaching and using J2EE with IBM Websphere, and he has dediced to go down the Sun Java Enterprise System route (Portal, Application Server, Access Manager, Liberty and doing development with Studio Enterprise and Creator). It will be quite an interesting thesis: the end result is a real world application that will be used by a community of a thousand people (dormitory) for various tasks (document store, student workflow, maybe some e-learning). We quickly figured out that this will not be a one man task, but he already found a number of other students who are interested in the project...
</p>
<p>Too bad I didn't stay at the University for a PhD work. I could still go back and do interesting things, but I don't think I would be thinking on building a house next year if I'd done that...
</p>
<img align="center" src="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/csj/egommap.gif" />https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/instead_of_sleepingInstead of sleeping...csj 2005-03-23T16:28:53+00:002005-03-24T00:32:11+00:00<p>I'm still reading articles like <a href="http://www.rmki.kfki.hu/~lukacs/SZARMAT1.htm">this</a> at 1:30 AM. A bit odd excerpt:
</p>
<i>
<p>However what about the origin of Magyars? That is less trivial. Magyar language is not Turkish, as you might expect for Middle Age horseriders (Bulgar, Khazar, Avar, Hun &amp;c.), but neither is Iranian as you would expect for Late Antique ones (Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans &c.). Cavalieri-Sforza correctly reports that the language is Siberian (well, Western Siberian), but then he is unable to find Siberian genes in the Basin, so he concludes that Magyars first had taught the Siberian language to the Europeans and then immediately died out; an interesting scenario. A Magyar genetic expert, in one book, tells two mutually incompatible facts, that 1) the Magyar population is closest genetically to Germans &amp; Slavs, and in the same time 2) shows up 36 % of lactose non-digestion, unheard in Europe while quite common in Eastern Asia.</p>
<p> In the same time, while Magyar language is not Turkish, it contains hundreds of basic Turkish stems (not simply borrowed Kulturwörte or phrases); and while it is definitely not Iranian, its structure being diagonally opposite to any Indo-European languages, the very fundamental "we-word", Magyar, comes from Iranian "manush"="man". (Details will come in due course.) Strange enough.
</p>
</i>https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/looking_for_university_studentsLooking for university studentscsj 2005-03-23T02:12:39+00:002005-03-23T10:32:02+00:00<p>After 5 years of inactivity we're finally hiring a number of university students to help with the daily tasks (preparing demo equipment, doing some Java development, etc) of the Client Solutions organization in Hungary. The posters are out (<a href="http://vir.sch.bme.hu/news.php?cmd=show&news_id=1821">here</a> and also offline) and the CVs are coming in one after the another.</p>
<p>It's quite interesting to watch this from the inside. I was the last student hired during the summer of 2000 by Sun Hungary and when I've graduated we forgot to hire a new one (there were RIFs during that period even in the sales organization so I guess my manager (who also started at Sun Hungary as a student a decade ago) wouldn't want to hire someone only to fire him a few months later).</p>
<p>So, if you're a second or third year university student studying IT or CS at either the Budapest University of Technology or Eötvös Lóránd University feel free to submit your CV to the email address specified on the poster (provided you have the English skills and understand this blog post<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/images/smileys/smile.gif" class="smiley" alt=":)" title=":)" />. Also feel free to ask questions in the comments.</p>https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/caught_in_aCaught in a ....csj 2005-03-17T23:16:17+00:002005-03-18T07:38:37+00:00<p>This week just rocks:<ul>
<li>the temperature is 20 degrees higher than a week before
<li>my favourite band is doing a show in Hungary this summer:
<ul>
June 14th - Petofi Open Air - Budapest, Hungary<br />
"An Evening With <a href="http://www.dreamtheater.net">Dream Theater</a>"
</ul>
<li>my girlfriend's favourite Alanis Morissette is also giving a concert in May
<li>I've turned 26
<li>I'm on vacation the whole week
</ul>
</p>https://blogs.oracle.com/csj/entry/funny_envelopeFunny envelopecsj 2005-03-03T04:22:28+00:002005-03-03T12:36:34+00:00<img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/csj/data.jpg"/>
<p>A strange envelope arrived to the Hungarian office today. The recipient is not working for Sun (neither in Hungary, Belgium nor Russia).</p>
<p>Shouldn't CRM systems first do some sanity checks on the addresses they store?</p>